New to orchids; advice please

I have three orchids, bought from garden centres so they *should* be easy for a beginner - a cymbidium, a phalaenopsis, and a zygopetalum (types unknown). Time will tell if I can get them to flower again, but, meanwhile, when I come to repot them, would the plastic pots/baskets that are used for aquatic plants be a good idea? As these containers are very holey, I thought they would aid air circulation, although I would expect to have to water them more frequently than in an enclosed pot. I live in the UK, so will have to keep the plants under glass during the winter, although I believe that the cymbidium will benefit by being outdoors in dappled sunlight during the summer?

Incidentally, the phalaenopsis was given to me last October. It had three flower spikes with three flowers already out, and lots of buds to come which opened in due course. What amazes me is that, more than 4 months later, *all* the flowers are still perfect. Is this usual, please?

Many thanks Kate

Hi Kate,phalaenopsis do flower for long periods ,so not unusual.Outdoors for the cymbidium as you said is good,back inside before the first frost(this should get it to reflower),but watch out for water getting into the growths late summer/autumn otherwise you may lose leaves to rot ..I will shelter mine from above and water them myself.Phals and Zygos are easier to reflower so you shouldnt have any problems with these,just give them 10 f min temp difference day/night,i have never done this by altering my heater setup.I just set my heater to my min required and let nature take its course.And my orchids reflower . As for the aquatic pots,i have tried them but the plant roots grow through the holes making future repotting difficult and they do dry out alot quicker.So you will have to take your conditions into account when deciding what to grow your plants in.If indoors i would only use standard pots ,not baskets or mounted as watering/misting is almost impossible to maintain. Hope this helps

3 then 4/567/89 ten orchids and so on /on and onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Happy growing Cheers keith UK